Any recomendations on a Solar ETF and Hybrid ETF? I have someone that wants to buy stock in these industries but really doesn't know what companies to go into. Im trying to research into the ETF arena to minimize their risk (somewhat). Anyone here have any success with these industries? Thanks.....

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Sure did and it has changed my frickin life, now every day I get to delete general spam,
Chamber of Commerce spam and leads group spam. I wish I would have had it 2005 when I joined EDJ, I missed a lot of spam in that 1 year I was without it I'm sure.
(The above is sarcasm, I'm not sure your smart enough it figure is out on your own.)
By the way Gone all of these topics have been brought up countless time in the last few years, use the search button to reveiw, then maybe you can come up with something original. You might not look so stupid then.

Well the client already has a very well balance portfolio and with the energy costs going the way they are here in Cal she believes that Solar/Hybrid are going to be great in the next 10 to 20 years…which I cant argue. She wants individual stock but I don’t feel that is the best option for her as at this point in the game knowing which individual companies are going to make it in the long run is a shot in the dark. So that is why I am going to the ETF route.

Powershares, iShares, Vanguard are all companies that have a lot of ETFs. Powershares would be where I would start as they seem to have a lot of diversity in their mix. I have a client that asked me for recommendations on similar topics (water and clean energy) and Powershares is where we ended up. Just so you know, if the investment they choose makes a bunch of money, they’re a genius, and you should have thought of it first. If it doesn’t, you’re an idiot for letting them buy it and you should have talked them out of it.

[/quote]
Sure did and it has changed my frickin life, now every day I get to delete general spam,
Chamber of Commerce spam and leads group spam. I wish I would have had it 2005 when I joined EDJ, I missed a lot of spam in that 1 year I was without it I'm sure.
(The above is sarcasm, I'm not sure your smart enough it figure is out on your own.)
By the way Gone all of these topics have been brought up countless time in the last few years, use the search button to reveiw, then maybe you can come up with something original. You might not look so stupid then.[/quote]
Shouldn't there be a statute of limitations on how long you can bad mouth your previous employer? 6 years in this biz is a lifetime ago. You left Jones in 2002. My guess is that you have been gone from Jones longer than you were at Jones. Am I right? I don't think that you look stupid bringing this stuff up again. I think it's just sad to hold on to those feelings for so long.

[quote=Spaceman Spiff]Powershares, iShares, Vanguard are all companies that have a lot of ETFs. Powershares would be where I would start as they seem to have a lot of diversity in their mix. I have a client that asked me for recommendations on similar topics (water and clean energy) and Powershares is where we ended up. Just so you know, if the investment they choose makes a bunch of money, they’re a genius, and you should have thought of it first. If it doesn’t, you’re an idiot for letting them buy it and you should have talked them out of it. [/quote]Oh yes I do realize this…and in fact I have tried to talk her out of it several times. The problem is that she is all pro green (not that its wrong) and convinced that the sector is going to skyrocket. So that is why I am where I am with her…I definitely do not want her to go into individual stocks for two reasons, 1. to do it right she would have to spread it around and I don’t want her to have that much of her money in this speculative idea and 2. If she were to just go into two to four different companies…well that could be all bad 12-36 months from now.

[quote=Spaceman Spiff]Powershares, iShares, Vanguard are all companies that have a lot of ETFs. Powershares would be where I would start as they seem to have a lot of diversity in their mix. I have a client that asked me for recommendations on similar topics (water and clean energy) and Powershares is where we ended up. Just so you know, if the investment they choose makes a bunch of money, they're a genius, and you should have thought of it first. If it doesn't, you're an idiot for letting them buy it and you should have talked them out of it. [/quote]

And with all due respect Spiff (i mean that, your posts here and elswhere have earned my respect, so I;m not being sarcastic) if you do talk them out of it, and it goes up, you are just as big an idiot. I know that from experience.

[/quote]
Sure did and it has changed my frickin life, now every day I get to delete general spam,
Chamber of Commerce spam and leads group spam. I wish I would have had it 2005 when I joined EDJ, I missed a lot of spam in that 1 year I was without it I'm sure.
(The above is sarcasm, I'm not sure your smart enough it figure is out on your own.)
By the way Gone all of these topics have been brought up countless time in the last few years, use the search button to reveiw, then maybe you can come up with something original. You might not look so stupid then.[/quote]
Shouldn't there be a statute of limitations on how long you can bad mouth your previous employer? 6 years in this biz is a lifetime ago. You left Jones in 2002. My guess is that you have been gone from Jones longer than you were at Jones. Am I right? I don't think that you look stupid bringing this stuff up again. I think it's just sad to hold on to those feelings for so long. [/quote]
OK, Spiffmeister, I make observations about jones and because I have only been gone 3 weeks then they aren't valid. Maxstud says something and because he's been gone 6 years then that's not ok either......

I have had a few clients ask about “green” stocks and “green” funds. They are well intentioned, but this is how I usually explain it to them…

I ask them when they first started using e-mail at work. Usually they tell me sometime around the early to mid 90's. I ask them the first time they had satellite, and wireless broadband, and cell phones. After we go around like this for a few minutes, I explain to them that we are around the year 1986 as far as "green" energy is concerned. The industry has a LONG way to go. We could probably dig up 1,000 names of companies that went belly-up trying to ride the internet craze. But that doesn't mean "tech" was bad. It just wasn't easy to pick the good, sustainable companies that would actually turn a profit, and that we could buy at the right price (as opposed to buying in February of 2000).
Most people seem to get that. You don't want to go out and pick the Netscape or Pets.com of the "green" movement.